A summary of the investigation released by the IDF said that the crew had chosen "to complete the mission and not defend themselves sufficiently. Their actions did not correlate with standard procedure while under enemy fire."
The events of February 10 began in the early morning hours when an Iranian drone infiltrated Israel. An IAF Apache helicopter shot it down, while fighter jets were scrambled to attack 12 Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria in retaliation. On their way back to base, the Israeli planes came under Syrian anti-aircraft fire, with one missile exploding near one of the planes and bringing it down.
The pilot and navigator were able to bail out of the plane before it crashed near Kibbutz Harduf. The pilot was seriously injured, while the navigator was only lightly hurt. Both have since been discharged from the hospital.
The investigation into the incident, which was presented to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, determined that the advanced planning for the operation was done properly, and the intelligence for the mission was sufficient, leading to the successful destruction of the targets, which were marked prior to the retaliatory strike.
In total, the Syrian aerial defense apparatus launched 27 missiles at IAF planes throughout the night and early morning as events unfolded, 13 of them were fired while Israeli jets were attacking the Iranian drone's control and command center. One of the missiles, a large long-range outdated SA-5 missile, hit the Israeli F-16. (end of excerpt)
Click here for the full story, on the YNet website.
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from Defense Aerospace - Press releases http://ift.tt/2CJyTAs
via Defense
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